Will Campaign On Jamaat-e-Islami Founder Prior To Polls Concern Congress In Kerala?

Last Updated:October 05, 2025, 18:18 IST

With a mission to strengthen the Congress in the national front, the Jamaat-e-Islami has been closely associated with the UDF in the state

The Malappuram district committee of Solidarity has organised a debate on ‘Sayyid Maududi and Sheikh Qaradawi: Islamic Political Thought and Development’ on October 3. (Website)

In a move that puts the Congress in a quagmire, the Solidarity Youth Movement has launched a campaign to ‘familiarise people with the ideals’ of Abdul A’la Maududi, its parent organisation, Jamaat-e-Islami Hind’s (JIH) founder and ideologue.

Incidentally, a ‘clean certificate’ by Leader of Opposition VD Satheesan to JIH, endorsing its ideological climbdown for creation of an Islamic theocratic state, is only about 100 days old.

What is the trigger?

Considering Maududi a renaissance leader of India, the youth Jamaat leadership believes a public debate on the ideals of its founder would boost its political strength.

The Malappuram district committee of Solidarity has organised a debate on ‘Sayyid Maududi and Sheikh Qaradawi: Islamic Political Thought and Development’ on October 3. While Maududi, founder of Jamaat-e-Islami, propagated political Islam and theocratic nationalism, Yousaf al-Qaradawi, an Egyptian Islamic scholar, is widely viewed as close to the Muslim Brotherhood, a pan-Islamic movement advocating a theocratic state.

“This programme is a blow to the Sangh Parivar – ‘secular’ psyche which thinks that it has achieved complete success in casting Maududi as a villain," said Solidarity secretary T Ismayil in a social media post.

How does the programme affect the Congress in Kerala?

With a mission to strengthen the Congress in the national front, the Jamaat-e-Islami has been closely associated with the UDF in the state. It was engineering a Muslim consolidation for Congress, and it had extended support to the UDF in recent elections. With the buoyant success of the Congress in Palakkad and Nilambur Assembly byelections, the bond with its political wing, the Welfare Party, and the UDF has amplified.

What was the certificate by Congress?

During campaigning for the Nilambur byelection on June 10, Satheesan had defended the UDF’s ties with the JIH, saying it had changed a lot and moved away from the ideology of theocratic nationalism. Satheesan denied allegations against their hardcore religious stand. This prompted Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to attack both the Congress and JIH for its ideals.

How the campaign takes a stance against Jamaat-e-Islami

In a December 2024 interview, Kerala state president (Amir) of JIH, P Mujeebur Rahman, asserted that the current policies and stances of the Jamaat-e-Islami in Kerala are not based on Maududi’s original ideas, as suggested by some critics. He emphasised that JIH in India has adapted to the democratic, multi-religious context of the country, moving away from some of Maududi’s more doctrinaire positions.

Hence, the JIH had started conciliatory approaches in many issues, apparently, in a move to garner support of a wider mass for the bigger political gains.

Ideology is thicker than political gains

However, the Solidarity or its Students’ wing, Students Islamic Organisation (SIO), is in no mood to keep ideology or the founder Maududi away for political reasons in the state. This was evident from a protest march organised by the Solidarity Movement against the Waqf Amendment Bill near Karipur airport in Kozhikode on April 10. It had triggered a political controversy after demonstrators displayed images of controversial Islamist figures.

Among the photos carried by protestors were those of Sheikh Hassan al-Banna, the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, a group designated as a terrorist organisation by several countries including Saudi Arabia; Sayyid Qutb, a key ideologue of the Muslim Brotherhood, and slain Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.

What about the timing?

The Solidarity campaign comes at a time when the two prominent Hindu groups, the NSS and the SNDP, with high influence in the southern districts, have been alienated from the UDF in recent times over alleged minority appeasement by Congress. The local body elections, crucial for all political parties, may fall within another 50 days.

Chandrakanth Viswanath

Chandrakanth Viswanath is a bilingual multimedia journalist with working experience from various locations in India and the Middle East. Now based in Thiruvananthapuram as an editor after stints in New Delhi, D...Read More

Chandrakanth Viswanath is a bilingual multimedia journalist with working experience from various locations in India and the Middle East. Now based in Thiruvananthapuram as an editor after stints in New Delhi, D...

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